On Wednesday morning local time, Hurricane Idilia is expected to make landfall in Florida, with authorities on alert for days for the “dangerous” weather phenomenon they have described. A state of emergency has been declared in Florida, as well as North and South Carolina as well as Georgia.

Residents of vulnerable coastal areas in Florida were ordered to evacuate, with Gov. Ron DeSandis warning: “You really need to leave now. Now is the time.”

In all, 28 of the state’s 67 counties are being evacuated and 14 million citizens are on alert.

Hurricane Idalia is forecast to reach “extremely dangerous intensity Category 4” with maximum sustained winds of at least 120 miles per hour before it is forecast to make landfall in the Big Bend area of ​​Florida’s Gulf Coast early Wednesday.

The National Hurricane Center in its update at 12 am (local time), spoke of a “disastrous storm and destructive winds.”

Idalia is now located about 185 km southwest of Cedar Key, Florida and about 280 km south of Tallahassee and moving north at 26 km/h.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia “an unprecedented event,” as no major hurricane has ever been recorded to pass through the bay that abuts Big Bend.

Florida’s Gulf Coast along with southeast Georgia and eastern parts of North and South Carolina could experience 10 to 20 centimeters of downpours by Thursday, with isolated areas receiving as much as 30 centimeters of rain, according to the National Center for Weather Forecasts. Hurricanes.

Idalia will be the first hurricane to hit Florida since Nicole in November 2022, which made landfall near Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast.